From director Anatole Litvak, comes the mystery film noir, Sorry Wrong Number. The movie is based on a radio play of the same name, by Lucille Fletcher. The movie stars Barbara Stanwyck as Leona Stevenson a bed-ridden wealthy woman, who thanks to a crossed phone line, overhears two men planning to commit a murder.
Leona, a rich heiress is all alone in her luxury apartment. Neither her servants, nor husband is at home with her. When she picks up her ringing phone, she overhears two men conspiring to murder someone, that same night, due to a crossed line.
Regaining her composure, she first calls the police and narrates the incident. As she knows little about the men or their target, she cannot provide the police any helpful information. After a failed attempt to get a hold of her husband, Henry, she manages to track down her secretary, who is playing Bingo at a large gathering.
The secretary tells Leona that earlier that day, Henry had left work on a lunch date with an attractive woman, who had come to his office and identified herself as Sally Hunt. Henry had not returned to work.
Leona recognizes the name and is in a state of turmoil. Lighting a cigarette and turning on the radio, she attempts to relax. She then dials a number. A young boy answers the phone, saying it is the Lord residence. Running past his dad, who is working at a table with another man, the boy calls his mother. Sally, his mother picks up the phone and moving away from her husband’s listening range, tells Leona that she will call back in a while as she cannot talk freely from home.
On the pretext of going to a store to buy beer, Sally leaves her house. A flashback reveals that Barbara, the helpless lady, confined to bed was a assertive spoilt and vindictive person. The viewer is taken to a dance, where Barbara interrupts Sally and Henry, who are dancing together. She steals Henry from Sally and then assertively forces him into a relationship with her.
It is revealed that Barbara is the daughter of a rich drugstore chain owner while Henry is a mere employee at a drugstore. Despite her father’s strong rejection of Henry, Barbara is adamant that she is going to marry him.
Then, back in the present, Sally calls Barbara from a payphone and tells her that a few days earlier, her husband Fred, a lawyer at the DA’s office, was conducting an investigation on Henry. Fred claimed that they were close to indicting Henry too. Sally had then followed Fred to an abandoned house, owned by an employee of Leona’s father.
Sally had warned Henry about the investigation earlier that day, when they had lunch and Henry who got a call just then, left immediately. As she is on the phone with Sally, Leona now gets a call from Henry,who claims that he had to leave town urgently, that day. Another flashback reveals that while Henry is employed by Leona’s father, he is not given any big responsibilities. When he tells Leona’s dad that he is bored, her father tells Henry that he has no choice, but to stay where he is. Leona’s father also tells Henry that his only duty is to take care of Leona.
In the present, Leona reaches out to the owner of the abandoned house. There are frightful revelations that emerge at this point in the plot. One is that Henry attempted to embezzle chemicals from his father-in law and then it is revealed that Henry was duped by a man named Morano and his thugs, who made Henry sign an IOU.
The biggest revelation comes next, when it is revealed that Leona herself, is the intended target of the men who she heard earlier, conspiring on the phone.
Between Leona and Henry, it is hard to decide who the victim is. There was no reason for Leona or her father to suppress Henry and there was no excuse for Henry to take the immoral path. This is a riveting movie with shocking twists and turns and one of the best film noirs I have seen, Barbara Stanwyck, a tour de force especially in film noir, delivers a great performance as Leona. One of my favorite aspects of noir cinema is that its characters are not flat and one dimensional, but are complex individuals with multiple traits, some good and some evil. Stanwyck as Leona embodies such a character, perfectly. While one would not wish for Leona to be murdered, or may even sympathize with her, she would find it hard to like her. Burt Lancaster has done his part for his role, but Barbara clearly steals the show from him. This performance would give Stanwyck an Academy Award nomination. Go ahead and watch this movie. You will not be disappointed.
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey
Direction: Anatole Litvak
Bay Area Bloke 